Varsapura is an open-world supernatural action RPG developed by miHoYo and published internationally by HoYoverse. The game takes place in a modern city known as the City of Rain, a metropolis soaked in perpetual rainfall and haunted by a corruptive substance called Mindrot. Players control a Hollowone recruited by the SEAL organization to investigate and contain supernatural threats.
The name combines two Sanskrit words: varsa (rain) and pura (city). This follows the same naming convention as Singapore's historical Sanskrit name, Singapura (Lion City), which is fitting since the City of Rain is modeled on Singapore.
Visual direction
Varsapura is built on Unreal Engine 5, making it miHoYo's first game outside of Unity. The art direction targets photorealism rather than the cel-shaded, anime-inspired look of Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail. The 31-minute gameplay demo was captured on an NVIDIA RTX 4090 and showed ray-traced reflections on wet streets, volumetric rain, and physically accurate material rendering.
The character models drew mixed reactions. Environments and lighting were widely praised, but the character faces were criticized for an uncanny contrast between realistic body proportions and large, anime-style eyes. This is an area likely to see refinement before release.
Core gameplay
The gameplay demo showed several interlocking systems:
Third-person combat with a 3-character party and real-time character swapping
Stealth with backstabs, cover mechanics, and overhead drop attacks
Vehicle driving through the open-world city with physics-based handling
A dialogue system with Persuasion, Deception, and Empathy skill checks
Dimensional gateway exploration during Cognosea disruption events
Development background
The project has a complicated development history. miHoYo first attempted an urban open-world game in 2020 under the codename PJSH (Project SH), but disbanded that effort at the end of 2022 after scaling too ambitiously too quickly. The team regrouped by late 2023 under producer Cai Haoyu, miHoYo's co-founder, and the game was publicly revealed on November 20, 2025.
Platforms and release
No official release date has been announced. The game is expected on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S likely based on the UE5 scope and AAA production values. Mobile is unlikely at launch given the graphical fidelity. A hidden clue in the demo shows "2026.04.01" on SEAL application paperwork, which may hint at a beta test. Based on HoYoverse's typical testing timelines, analysts speculate a late 2027 or later release window.